Your favorite “go-to” people when you’re looking for criticism of your work

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Re: Your favorite “go-to” people when you’re looking for criticism of your work

I rarely show new work to anyone prior to hanging a show (unless I have to show the work to get the show....). I must be thoroughly satisfied first. It must be my statement free as much as possible of any outside influence. Since I am showing the work ultimately I want feedback on the finished work of course, but by then I am fully self confident in the work.

Thanks,
Kirk

at age 65
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep"

Re: Your favorite “go-to” people when you’re looking for criticism of your work

Great question. I think cultivating a community of people whose opinions you value (but don't necessarily parrot) is invaluable. I had a small cluster of photographer friends when I lived in Providence (the venerable Group f5.6), and then joined a friend's photo salon when I moved to Brooklyn. That group has mostly disolved so I now have to look harder for feedback.

I've found a workshop setting especially helpful is when editiing and sequencing a body of work, like for a show or a book. I have learned so much about my work by inviting other people into this process.

Another option, one I haven't done in years, is the portfolio review events like at Fotofest, Photolucida, and the Powerhouse festival in NYC. These are good for concentrated feedback from a wide range of people, and hopefully also opportunities for shows or publication.

But I think a community that you cultivate is more valuable than the occasional critique from a big shot.

Something I've said before, that may be worth repeating ... showing your work to a lot of people will innoculate you against taking any one opinion too seriously. I feel terrible for the photographers of yore who trecked cross country to show their work to Stieglitz—the monotheistic deity of his time—and cought him on a bad bowel day. I'm sure a few people had their egos destroyed. This is so unecessary. Your personal hero may love your work, or may hate it. It really doesn't matter. Get a lot of opinions, and use them. The important thing is what you can learn, not what you can stoke your ego with.

Re: Your favorite “go-to” people when you’re looking for criticism of your work

Let me qualify this a bit. After going thorough brutal (but enlightening) critiques as an undergraduate and graduate photo student, I still carry those fundamental questions people raised in me as I review my own work.

Originally Posted by Kirk Gittings

I rarely show new work to anyone prior to hanging a show (unless I have to show the work to get the show....). I must be thoroughly satisfied first. It must be my statement free as much as possible of any outside influence. Since I am showing the work ultimately I want feedback on the finished work of course, but by then I am fully self confident in the work.

Thanks,
Kirk

at age 65
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep"

Re: Your favorite “go-to” people when you’re looking for criticism of your work

I imagine the “teacher/mentor” option will be popular, but I’d also love to hear from the teachers around here who have sought feedback from their students, and how much the decision to do so depends on the age gap, and other factors.

Re: Your favorite “go-to” people when you’re looking for criticism of your work

Originally Posted by sun of sand

People who don't take themselves too seriously when theyre being very serious
those with a sense of humour

All of the sources of opinion are valid for that sub-set of people. Each has a range of experience and different tools and culture to bring to the work. The family member is best the teenage child who will give the truth and damn the niceties of manners. The photographer from a peer group has special technical knowledge and so brings considerations that others likely miss entirely. The dealer/curator knows what's already collected and what might be popular with the given client base.

So as long as one segregates opinions based on the source, one can get opinions form all the sources, but in a sense of fun and exploration, knowing there will be utterly off mark comments that have to be accepted without insult! There's a caveat. The photographer must already have a sense that they have materialized the picture in the photograph as intended and be prepared to stand by that "new life". Above all, a photographer, unless doing the bidding for hire, (for an art director or PR department or agency), should not absorb all such external influences. Rather, they have to each be referenced back to the parameters original intent of the photographer, as an artist. Only if they help that process, are they valid. A new concept is someone else's photograph: let them get their own camera and they can do it their way, if they so choose.

If something new might help execute one's idea better or in a way that is in harmony with one's intent, then that rare nugget might be used in making an even better print next time. Still, most of the critique must have already come from ourselves in the first place.